GM and Facebook said to be rekindling advertising flame

Back in May, General Motors suddenly ceased advertising on Facebook. No specific details were given, although it was believed that the advertising campaign had little impact. Now the Wall Street Journal reports that GM and Facebook are in talks to resume advertising on the social network. Senior executives have confirmed that both companies are currently in talks.

GM’s global marketing chief, Joel Ewanick, and Carolyn Everson, Facebook’s worldwide head of sales, met at an event in Cannes sometime in June. According to sources familiar with the matter, Facebook is trying to bring GM back as an advertiser, promising to provide better data on how it can turn commercials into cash. It won’t give GM preferential treatment over other advertisers, though.

According to sources, GM hasn’t decided to return to Facebook just yet as it has yet to see any form of advertising effectiveness from the platform. GM has also reportedly been meeting with digital advertising firms in order to gain a better idea of how to market its products for Facebook. GM is said to have spent $10 million on advertising with Facebook, a fraction of its $1.8 billion US ad spending, and also a very small part of Facebook’s $3.7 billion revenue in 2011.